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Making a quilt from ties

I was at Goodwill yesterday and noticed they had ties for 25 cents each. Are all ties created equal? When purchasing ties to make a quilt what do you look for? Can anyone recommend a book or tutorial to show how to take the ties apart and prepare them for piecing? Does anyone have any suggestions for patterns for a tie quilt? Thanks for all your help.

There were several nice ones on here recently. Check in the search area.

all ties are not created equal- their are silk ties (often used for quilting projects) their are wool, cotton, polyester...lots of different ties in different fibers of different quality. if you want to make a 'silk tie' quilt then, check the labels & pick out the ones that are silk. if it doesn't matter to you- and you just want to choose ties you like- that's fine too- just try to make sure they are all able to be laundered/cared for equally-- look them over- make sure there are no holes, or stains. cut the backs open (easy to do- sometimes just a few stitches) and remove the heavy interfacing inside. I generally launder my ties before using them- then I press a lightweight fusible interfacing to the inside for stability & to keep them from fraying. there are tie quilt books on the market- a 'Dresden plate' style is popular- sometimes people cut them into strips and make log cabin or pineapple block tie quilts...you can use the fabric in any way you choose (there is quite a bit of fabric in a tie- making it an excellent source of silk. :thumbup: ) browse the picture section here on the board to see some our members have made & google images have lots of silk tie quilts to browse too for inspiration.

My favorite pattern has been on Modabakeshop.com called Simply Woven. It works great with ties of different thicknesses and fabric contents. Here is mine, I've posted it before but thought you might like to see it.I always recommend the book Daddy's Ties by Shirley Botsford. It certainly helped me. [ATTACH=CONFIG]475174[/ATTACH]I

I put my ties in the washing machine and hung them it dry. Put them in a garment bag or you will get a tangled mess. Any ties that didn't come out of the wash well, I discarded. Ties are all cut on the bias so it is best to use an iron on stabilizer or the edges will stretch.
I have cut bias binding strips for binding small projects from ties.

Thanks for all the info on the stabilizer...I will need all the help I can get with silk.
I have been squirreling away some silk ties from garage sales and 2 pair of silk dress pants that I used to wear. Even got some sample pieces from one of the furniture companies. They were out of stock prints.

Thanks for all the information ckcowl and tartan! I have been reading up on what has been posted previously. I'm planning on going back to Good Will to see if the ties are silk or a blend. Figured for a quarter each I can experiment. Just what I need -- another project! Toverly, your quilt is beautiful.

I bought the book Daddy's Ties to use when I got my Dad's and uncle's ties after they passed and made several of the projects in that book to give to my siblings. It is a great book.